Police News August 09.indd - New Zealand Police Association

PoliceNewsThe Voice of PoliceLegislation to speed up court processesexpected by the end of next yearThe Government’s proposed reforms of thecriminal justice sector are taking shape.The Criminal Procedure (Simplification)Project includes a range of initiativesto improve timeliness and efficiency incriminal court cases.The median waiting time for District Courttrials is one year while in the High Court itis just over 16 months.Mr Power said that a complete overhaul ofcriminal procedure is long overdue.Reform of legislation“The time has come to reform legislationin a way that ensures all parties in thecriminal justice system are better served byimproving efficiency, reducing delay andcosts, and better using technology whereappropriate. We need to reconsider someof the traditional practices of the courtsystem,” he said.The Criminal Procedure (Simplification)Project is being undertaken to address anumber of long-standing inefficiencies andissues with pre-trial criminal procedure,including:• Repeated adjournments;• Unnecessary appearances to deal withmatters that should have been addressedout of court;Burial ‘plot’ sees women charged with fraudA resident of Hawthorne, California boughtlife insurance policies on people who didnot exist, held fake funerals and cashed inthe plans when they “died,” according to areport in The Daily Breeze.Faye Shilling, 60, and her allegedaccomplice, Jean Crump, 67, of Los Angeles,are suspected of defrauding insurance andassignment firms of about $1 million duringa three-year con, authorities said. They hadallegedly run the scheme for three years.A notary and a cemetery owner have alreadyoffered guilty pleas as being accessories inthe alleged plot.$10,000 bailFBI agents arrested Shilling and Crumprecently. The women made their initialappearances before a magistrate in U.S.District Court in Los Angeles and werereleased on $10,000 bail.They faced a five-count indictment allegingmail and wire fraud and other charges.If convicted, they face about 20 years inprison.According to the indictment, Shilling andCrump purchased life insurance policies fortwo people - “Jim Davis” and “Laura Urich.”168August 2009• Late guilty pleas that result in inefficientuse of court time;• Trials that fail to proceed on theirscheduled date;• Inadequate incentives and sanctions toensure that prosecution and defenceprogress the case as they should;• Long delays before the final disposal ofcases;• A trial system in which relatively minorcases may be tried by jury;• Barriers to the use of moderntechnologies and an excessively paperbasedprocess; and• An excessively complex and outdatedlegislative framework.Mr Power said that such issues createinefficiency and cause inconvenience andfail to deliver justice to victims, witnesses,and others in the community.ProposalsThe proposals include:• Requiring parties to discuss cases in anattempt to resolve them, so unnecessarycourt appearances can be avoided andtrial time can be shortened;• Changing the process to determinewhether jury trials are held in the HighCourt or the District Court;• Requiring the defence to identify issuesFor Jim Davis, the women obtaineda $250,000 policy from Conseco LifeInsurance Company in Carmel, Indiana, anda $450,000 policy from American GeneralLife Insurance in Houston. Chesapeake LifeInsurance Co. in Oklahoma City issueda policy for Urich with a face value of$50,000.Fake death certificatesThe women allegedly then waited for thepolicies to mature. When they did, Shilling,Crump and their co-schemers preparedfalse death documents, including fake deathcertificates.In addition to the insurance companies,they filed the documents with financialassignment companies. These companiesadvance funds to pay for funeral expenses inexchange for a fee and reimbursement whena deceased person’s life insurance pays off.In Davis’ “death,” the women purchaseda burial plot at Abbey Memorial Park inCompton and held a sham funeral.Bill for $31,000Shilling, Crump and Lydia Eileen-Pearce,owner of Steward-Pearce Mortuary in LongBeach, wired a bill to Jackman Financial forin dispute so the court can focus onthose issues at trial;• Removing the prosecution’s abilityto choose a jury trial for somethingthat could go to summary trial, andpotentially raising the jury trial thresholdfrom more than three months to morethan three years (or more);• Making clearer rules for proceeding inthe absence of the defendant; and• Introducing legislation to enablethe different participants in criminalproceedings to appear by audio-visuallink.Hoped for resultsIt is hoped that the changes will result in lessdelay, fewer adjournments, shorter trials, amore satisfactory process for victims andwitnesses, and increased efficiencies withinthe Justice system.Consultation papers have been released tostakeholders, and a draft Bill will be releasedfor consultation at the end of this year, beforea final draft is developed for introduction. Itis hoped legislation will be enacted by theend of 2010.Consultation papers on a number of criticalissues being considered under the project areavailable on the Ministry of Justice websitewww.justice.govt.nz/Simplification-Project/Criminal-procedure.htmlnearly $31,000 in funeral and related burialcosts, even though they had grossly inflatedthe costs for a “sham funeral with a nonexistentcorpse,” the indictment said.Based on the fake death certificate, thelife insurance company paid more than$232,000 into a beneficiary bank account.ExhumationAfter the staged funeral, the women fileddocuments to exhume the “body,” and filedfaked documents with the county to indicateDavis had been cremated.The women feared that if law enforcementor insurance investigators ever caught windof the ruse, they would find an empty casket,authorities said.In the case of Urich, the women allegedlyconducted a similar plot, creating fakedocuments. This time, they held a fakecremation, according to the indictment.Insurance and funeral assignment companiespaid out checks ranging from $5,000 to$45,000, the affidavit said.The indictment also alleges that the womenapproached a physician and offered him$50,000 to help create fake medical recordsfor Davis.